Ezekiel

Suggestions:1) Want to use both your eye gate and ear gate in taking in the Word? Just click the “Read” chapter to get started.2) Read the “tiny meditation” before and/or after you read the Bible chapter to help make a self-appllication of the scriptures read.

Whither my spirit leads, all the wheels of my life will follow. I can lead myself. No other can lead myself. No other in all the universe can conduct my powers. Ah, but some other can guide me, the me that guides my powers!

Copy by unknown artist after illustration by Matthaeus (Matthäus) Merian the elder (1593-1650)

If the Lord bid me speak, I will speak, though all men speak against me. I will arise at the august command, I will stand upon my feet, I will bear me like a man! For it is other than a man that commands me, other than all men and all worlds. There shall be in my heart no fear, no fear but of Him.

Do I really feed upon God’s word? Is it in my mouth, or only upon the table? Am I hungry for it, or indifferent to it? Is it an ornament rather than a food, an exterior rather than a component? O Christ, be to me truly the Bread of life! Be to me truly the Water of life!

If I do not the Lord’s will my staff of bread shall be broken. That upon which I lean, the strength of my body and the power of my mind, shall be broken. And my joy shall be broken with it. Thou alone canst restore it, Thou Staff of men, Thou Bread of life!

Let me know what will come upon me, if I do not obey the divine behest. Let me see my shame afar off, that I may avoid that way, that I may flee from it and never know it. For it is a reproach hardly to be shaken off, it is a sword, it is a fire, it will enter the heart of my life and destroy it forever.

The waste places of my life; alas, the deserts and desolations of my life, the places that should glow with blossoms and are barren, that should wave with verdure and are bare! To be a wilderness when one might be a garden! Does my life tend that way? Is my life running to waste?

Truly the Lord will bring my ways upon me. Like chains rolled up around me and holding me close, He will gather up the long coiling courses of my iniquity; or, like garlands and wreaths, tokens of grace and glory, He will lay upon me the flowery pathways of past worthiness. What are these ways of mine that the Lord will bring upon me; ah, what?

What fills my chambers of imagery? Are they temples of beauty, or dens of vileness? Is God there worshipped, or lust? When some day those chambers are thrown open to the gaze of men and angels, shall I be humbly proud, or unutterably ashamed? O God, cleanse my mind! O God, beautify my mind!

Has the man with the inkhorn set his mark upon my forehead? When the sword of just retribution is drawn, when the fire of righteous wrath flames abroad, will it pierce my soul, will it devour my joy? Oh, Thy mark upon my forehead, Lord, that all men and angels may see it!

As the spirits of the heavens obey Thee, Infinite One, and the spirits of the great deep, spirits of fire and of earth, wheel within wheel of Thy creatures, glory involving glory of Thy serviceable realm, so let me serve Thee with the whole heart, power upon power, joy upon joy, grace upon grace!

Thou art my sanctuary, O God, in a strange land. And though an exile, yet I am at home, since I may enter my sanctuary, and find my Father there! It is a land of detestable things and all abominations; but in this sanctuary is pureness of heart.

Let me also, like the prophet of old, prepare my stuff for removing. In the sight of all men let me live as for another country, as an immigrant ready to start. Let me find here no continuing city, but carry my possessions ever with me for embarkation.

Sometimes my visions are vain visions, mirages born of empty desires. Sometimes I prophesy out of my own heart, and deceive myself and others. And then I lead myself into morasses, and blindly lead others who are blind as I. Oh, for clearness of sight! Oh, for soundness of purpose! And they are to be found in God alone.

Am I of the remnant, of those that will comfort others in the time of their trouble, when dire distress comes upon men because of their sin? Is my life a rock upon which drowning men may lay their hands? Is my life a light, toward which lost men may grope?

Am I as a vine, or as an oak? Can God use me for walls of His temple? For strength? For protection? Am I broad, stanch, substantial? Or am I pliant as a vine, and worthless as a burned branch of the vine? Not in my own vain thoughts, not in the partial thoughts of others, but in the veritable thought of God, what is the use of me?

No picture that can be painted, not even that of the adulterous wife of a faithful husband, is too black for my ingratitude. What could be done for man that has not been done for me? What could be done by man, of foul thanklessness and crude ingratitude, that has not been done by me? And yet the Lord has not given me up!

The Lord of Plantations has set me in the soil. He will have His way with me, as is His right. He will bring down the high tree, and let it not rebel. He will exalt the low tree, and let it not be proud. He will dry up the green tree, and it may not revive. He will make the dry tree flourish, and it must not vaunt itself. For all fortunes are of the Lord, and all fortunes are just.

Truly I receive much from my forefathers, and they that come after me will receive much from me; much, both of good and evil. But I am to live my own life and make my own destiny, as are they also to do. My inheritance is mine, it is not I. It is tools, and not destiny.

There are many that are disappointed when I fail, for many are they that love me and have hopes for me. They mourn over my captivity, they faint in my sickness, they die in my death. I am not living for myself, but for all these also.

In Thy judgments is life, O God. In them I live, and from no other source do I draw my existence. Thy judgments are the springtide, blossoming in beauty; they are the autumn, golden with harvest. Thy judgments are a great arm, mighty to strike down, mighty to uphold. By Thy judgments, O God, I live forever.

God will overturn, overturn, overturn, will leave no fortune upright and no life established, till He is exalted in the life—He whose right it is to rule therein. There is no safety to the wicked. There is no confidence except in obedience to the Lord.

What can I wish but that my dross should be consumed, that I should be pure gold, for use and for beauty? Ah, but if I am all dross? If the furnace consumes me utterly? What am I building into my character against that stern testing?

There is no evil that is not recompensed in sorrow. There is no impure outgoing that is not repaid by sad and ruinous incoming. God’s justice is not to be escaped or diminished. Where were the race of men, if God’s justice could be lessened or escaped?

When God’s justice smites with a sword, when the stroke of His righteousness falls, it is not for me to cry aloud, nor even to mourn before men, though my nearest and dearest is stricken down. All such sighing is a complaint, and all such mourning is an upbraiding of God.

God is an avenging God. I want Him to avenge me of that which harms my dear ones and me. Why should I complain when His vengeance falls upon me, if I do harm to others and to their dear ones? Shall not the Lord be impartial? Shall not the Judge hold even scales?

Am I like Tyre, that said, “I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste?” Do I find my fortune in others’ misfortune, and build my blessing on others’ bane? Let me know, then, of a surety, that no one in all the world can suffer loss without my suffering loss. Let me know that the system of the world is one.

If my tower is ill founded, the higher it rises, it is uplifted but to the more awful fall. If my house is build upon a volcano, the more wealth I crowd within it, only the richer will be the lava. If in any way my prosperity is commingled with iniquity, the greater it is, the greater is the ruin I am devising for myself.

Because my heart was lifted up, therefore it was struck down. Because my vanity was inflated, therefore it was pierced. Because I raised myself in foolish conceit above my fellows, therefore I am placed beneath their feet, and men trample upon me. There is a vice that punishes itself. That vice is pride.

Israel leaned upon Egypt, and it was a staff of reed. Upon what am I leaning? Does that on which I rest bend beneath my weight? Does it bend and will it break? Is it of man and so of weakness? Or is it of God, and so as firm as the everlasting powers, as rigid as the laws of the universe?

The Lord breaks the arms of those that oppose Him. The Lord strengthens the arms of His friends. The Lord smites the sword from the arms of His enemies. The Lord upholds the arms of those that trust in Him. If my arms are strong, it is of the Lord. If my arms are weak, it is of myself.

I am as a tree, planted by the rivers of water. If my branches grow long and thick, it is not of me; it is of the air and the water. If my shadow is good for rest, if birds nestle in my boughs, it is not of me; it is of the sunshine and the rain. Let me grow, but not in my own strength; let me grow in the strength of the Lord.

There come times, to me as to Egypt, when the Lord makes all the bright lights of heaven dark over me. It is that my soul may be light, and not that it may be dark. It is not that I may not see, but that I may not see the world, and that I may see God.

Those that warn me are many. The Lord has a myriad ways of guarding me. The Lord will not be blameworthy if I fall. They that warn me will not be blameworthy. The trumpets call here, they call there, and I lie upon my bed.

I am one of the Lord’s great flock. Where I feed, others also are to feed. Where I drink, there are many to drink. If I tread down the grass that I do not feed upon, and muddy with my feet the waters for others, what am I but a thief, a common thief? For all greed is theft.

How vast the difference, whether I magnify myself against the Lord, or magnify the Lord, to the forgetting of myself! The first is the desolation of Mount Seir, the second is the exaltation of Mount Zion. For whosoever exalts the Lord shall himself be exalted, even to the heavens

That is what I need, O God—a new heart. Not a new house, nor a new fortune, nor new garments; not new knowledge nor new philosophy; not new achievements even. No; what I need is new power of achievement, new capacity to enjoy, to bless and to be blessed. What I need is a new heart.

Dry bones, in very truth, is all my life, O God. A life of disjointed plans, of fleshless purpose, of brainless pleasures. The mere skeleton of life, compared with what it might be, and should be. Touch my life, O God, with Thy reviving finger, and all these dry bonds shall live.

Those whom the Lord protects shall dwell securely, all of them. There is no security in walls or fortresses. There is no security in wealth or worldly power and wisdom. There is no security in anything that has been made, but in the Maker. In Him let me rest my confidence.

Let my revenge be a part of God’s revenge upon His enemies. Let it be no more. Let it be no less. Let it reach as far as God’s revenge reaches, and let it extend no whit farther. Then shall my revenge be safe, and then shall my revenge be holy.

I will build in my heart a city of God. Its every measurement shall be familiar to me. All its directions shall be known to me, its every outline. I will dream of its perfections. I will gloat over its coming glories. And the vision of it shall abide with me until it is realized.

I will rear a temple for my God. Though it be only in my longings, only in my dreams, the temple shall be built; and the dream shall become substantial, piece by piece. It shall be conceived of God within my soul, each part of it formed by His creative Spirit. And if it is thus conceived and fashioned, no fear but it shall come to birth.

In all my life planning I must leave room for the holy places. Those spaces are more valuable than the work-shops of my life, richer than the treasure chambers, wiser than the library. They are places of withdrawal from the world, places of meeting with God. O my God, meet me there every day!

My house is not glorified till the glory of the Lord has entered it. The glory of beauty may be there, yet it is not glorified. The glory of power may be there, and all the glitter of wealth, yet it is not glorified. But when the glory of the Lord enters its holy places, then my house shall shine as the sun.

Whatever I do for the Lord–and should not all my deeds be for the Lord?–shall be done with a pure heart and clean hands. Oh, let me not venture otherwise into the presence of His purity and power! My service shall be service for a King, done in royal fashion and with kingly intent.

I must see to my standards. Whatever I measure out to men must be dealt forth out of true measures. It may be time or thought or any form of service. Whatever it is, let it be just weight, full quantity, pressed down, heaped up, running over.

Gifts for the Lord must be fit gifts. They must be such as He desires. They must be regularly presented. Such be my service, O God most worthy! Such be my offerings, due and desired! Let me not neglect them, nor stint them, nor cheat myself in seeking to cheat Thee!

That wonderful river should flow from my life, for I, I also, am a temple of the living God, and forth from my life should flow a fountain of living water. It should increase as it flows, broadening and deepening. It should reach to every nation. And everything should live, whithersoever those waters come.

Share and share alike, equal in breadth, straight across the land of blessedness,–so shall fare the people of God! And if my neighbor’s lot is fairer than mine, let me rejoice. If it is more fruitful, let me be sincerely glad.